Last night I read an article in the
Saturday Evening Post. The article talked all about the joys of probiotics. Hmmm... I have heard that word before but didn't know a heck of a lot about what they meant or did. I must say, after reading that article I decided that I needed to give probiotics a try! Probiotics are the "good" bacteria that your body uses for a lot of good!
I went to the store today and bought a bottle of
Lifeway keifer (in Pomegranate flavor). I found it in the refrigerated section right by the yogurts. If you have never tasted keifer before it is a thicker consistency then yogurt. It has a bit of a sour edge as well.
Below I have copied the entire article from the Saturday Evening Post for you. Enjoy!
Post Investigates Probiotics
Yogurt is one
of the primary dietary sources of probiotics. Look for products that say “live
and active cultures” on the label .
Baba Vasilika,
a peasant from a small village in Bulgaria, lived to be 126 years old and her
son, Tudor, to 101. The secret to their longevity, says a 20th century text,
was a daily diet of sour milk, packed with beneficial bacteria.
The story,
recounted in a 1911 book The Bacillus of Long Life, describes healthy bacteria
now called probiotics. Today, probiotics—defined by the World Health
Organization as live microbes that confer a health benefit—are one of the
hottest consumer health products. Last year, according to research firm
Euromonitor International, more than 63,000 tons of probiotic cultures were
consumed worldwide.
Americans are
turning to probiotics in part to counter the sanitizing effect of modern food
processing, which minimizes risks of pathogens in food but also kills natural
flora which some scientists believe have health benefits. Live bacteria,
originally marketed mainly in yogurt and dietary supplements, are now being
added to breakfast cereals, juices, sports drinks, muffins, chocolate, and even
pizza. Potential health benefits range from better digestive health to
prevention of colds and flus.
Consider Herald
Hollingshed, a 44-year-old technical director for a computer-services company,
who felt his digestion started “slowing” when he hit middle age. He was
frequently uncomfortable and bloated, but found relief with a Procter & Gamble
product, Align. The pill “helps everything flow as it should,” says
Hollingshed, who also switched to a healthier diet. “I feel in my best shape
ever.”
For Cheryl
Richardson, a 67-year-old retired lab technician from Chestertown, Maryland,
probiotics over the years have helped balance the negative effects of
antibiotics. Several years ago, after becoming ill from restaurant food while
on vacation in the British Isles, a doctor prescribed an antibiotic that seemed
to throw her digestive system out of whack. High doses of probiotics put it
back on track.
“This replaces
all the bacteria and helps your system digest food properly,” says Richardson.
For consumers,
it’s simultaneously a cornucopia of choice and a confusing cacophony of
marketing messages. The consumer “goes into a supermarket and has no idea which
product to buy,” says Gregor Reid, professor of microbiology at the University
of Western Ontario’s Lawson Research Institute. Despite the potential for
confusion, scientists say probiotics hold great promise for human health. The
evidence lies, in part, with the beneficial effects of breast milk. Beneficial
gut flora called bifidobacteria are higher in breast-fed infants than in those
fed by formula, says Glenn R. Gibson, professor of food microbiology at
University of Reading in England, adding that the breast-fed infants have lower
incidence of asthma and eczema. Good bacteria drop after babies are weaned,
then remain stable through adult life until they drop precipitously around age
60 to 65. “They don’t go away completely, but they decrease and make us more
prone to infections,” Gibson says. Low levels of good gut bacteria, he says, is
likely at least part of the reason why the elderly suffer most during
food-poisoning outbreaks.
The theory of
how probiotics help us has for years been simple: The good bacteria crowd out
the bad, resulting in better health. In recent years, scientists have learned
that probiotic bacteria also take on many more useful tasks, says Philip M.
Sherman, a scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. For example,
scientists believe some types of probiotic bacteria help boost production of a
protective mucus which lines the gut. Others, he says, produce cellular
messages that calm harmful inflammation.
A growing number
of scientists believe that gut microbes can change overall health. Scientists
are beginning to study the use of probiotics to treat depression and even
obesity. Benefits have already been shown for the digestive system, immune
modulation, and dental health. There is even talk of the potential to increase
longevity. “It’s exciting and there’s great promise,” says Joan Salge Blake, a
clinical associate professor of nutrition at Boston University and a
spokeswoman for the nonprofit Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Meet the
Healthy Microbes: These microorganisms have been shown to boost health in
published scientific studies.
If you want the
benefits of probiotics, you need to select carefully. “It’s not one size fits
all,” says Salge Blake. “The one that may help with constipation is different
from the one that may help with immune support. Make sure you are getting the
right strain for what you want.”
For example,
Dannon Activia yogurt and Procter & Gamble Co.’s probiotic capsule Align
have shown in scientific studies to improve gastrointestinal health. In four
published studies, Activia improved food’s transit time through the gut. Align,
shown to be effective in a chronic condition called irritable bowel syndrome,
is also helpful for milder digestion problems.
Yogurt is one
of the primary dietary sources of probiotics. Look for products that say “live
and active cultures” on the label .
Probiotics can
also ease an uncomfortable inflammation of the large intestine called
ulcerative colitis, which causes cramps and diarrhea. Jeff Isaacson, 43, of
Tempe, Arizona, was taking two prescription drugs for ulcerative colitis but
still suffering flare-ups. His doctor suggested adding VSL#3, a probiotic
cocktail of eight strains of bacteria, to his daily regimen. After two weeks
taking the capsules, Isaacson says, “I became basically symptom free.”
As a preventive
measure, Dr. Scott Bautch, Wassau, Wisconsin, says he recommends probiotics to
replace any good bacteria that are “wiped out” by antibiotics. Taking
probiotics can help patients prevent antibiotic-associated yeast infections and
even unpleasant episodes of diarrhea.
Probiotics in
Dannon’s DanActive and Yakult—a dairy drink from Japan’s Yakult Honsha Co.
Ltd.—can also help the immune system. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
doesn’t allow Dannon to say DanActive prevents colds and flus, so the package
reads “helps support your immune system.” But a look at published scientific
literature shows there’s at least preliminary evidence that some probiotics,
including the ones in DanActive, reduce the duration of upper respiratory
infections. And the Cochrane Collaboration, a nonprofit scientific group,
concluded in a 2011 review encompassing 14 published studies that probiotics
were “better than placebo” in reducing incidence of colds and flus. Further
research is needed, particularly in elderly patients, the scientists cautioned.
Probiotics are
also a boon to those who can’t digest lactose, a sugar found in dairy products.
People who are “lactose intolerant,” can eat yogurt without trouble because it
contains bacterial cultures which make lactase, the enzyme needed to digest
lactose, says Dennis Savaiano, Ph.D., professor of nutrition science at Purdue
University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
“It’s very much
like taking a Lactaid pill, but it’s a naturally occurring phenomenon,” says
Savaiano. Unfortunately, he adds, the helpful bacteria don’t linger in your gut
long enough to provide a long-term cure for your lactose intolerance.
In good news
for consumers, the quality of products seems to be improving. In a February
report, ConsumerLab.com, which tests nutritional products, found ten out of
twelve popular probiotic dietary supplements—83 percent—met its quality
standards, including the number of live bacteria promised on the label, up from
15 percent in 2009.
Homegrown
probiotics: Place veggies in Mason jar, add sea salt and whey, close. After 3
days, refrigerate for two weeks before eating.
Nonetheless,
regulators are taking a hard line on product claims. Over the past two years,
the FTC has filed administrative actions against French Danone Group’s U.S.
unit, Dannon Co. Inc., and Switzerland’s Nestlé S.A., claiming “deceptive”
advertising for their probiotic products. To settle the cases, the companies
agreed to soften product claims—for example, neither company is now allowed to
claim its products prevent colds and flus.
Consumers
looking for probiotic benefits can improve their chances with a few simple
rules, scientists and nutritionists say. First, take them daily, since the
beneficial effects are short term. Look for products that say “live” on the
label, says Gary B. Huffnagle, Ph.D., a professor of internal medicine and
microbiology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and author of the book
The Probiotics Revolution. That doesn’t necessarily mean refrigerated, as live
bacteria can survive in dry foods, such as cereal. There is even a variety that
can survive heat, Dr. Huffnagle adds, so it can be baked into muffins and other
treats. And watch your dose. The strongest efficacy data that Dannon’s Activia
improves transit time of waste through the gut was seen in studies on three
four-ounce containers a day, says Miguel Freitas, Dannon’s director of health
affairs. Some published research show benefits at lower doses.
Finding the
right probiotic for you “is definitely trial and error,” says Huffnagle. In
addition to studying probiotics in the lab, Huffnagle has been trying out
different probiotics for a decade. He’s found Activia helps his digestion,
Yakult seems to keep him healthy in wintertime, and Culturelle, a dietary
supplement from i-Health Inc., has eased the mold allergies that used to make
him miserable. Before deciding if a product works, he adds, “generally, give it
four to six weeks.”
Another
approach is to skip commercial products and, like the Bulgarian peasants, get
your probiotics naturally.
“Traditionally,
people got probiotics from fermented foods,” says Sally Fallon Morell, author
of Nourishing Traditions, a popular natural-foods cookbook, and president of
the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nutritional education nonprofit based in
Washington, D.C. Deli dill pickles, for example, are a good source of natural
bacteria—but look for the kind made with salt not vinegar. Mass-manufactured,
jarred sauerkraut is heat-treated, so buy it from “your mom and pop deli making
it in the back,” says Colorado-based probiotic food consultant Mary Ellen
Saunders.
You can also
make your own probiotic vegetables using a simple recipe says Fallon Morell,
whose advice has helped inspire a national movement which calls itself
“demented fermenters.” Simply take any vegetable you like—ground carrots and
ginger, for example—and put it in a Mason jar. Add sea salt and whey. Close the
jar and leave it on the counter for three days. Then transfer to the
refrigerator for two weeks before eating.
“It’s really
easy to do and it’s kind of magical,” says Fallon Morell. “You leave it on the
counter. Three days later you open the top and the bubbles come up. You feel
like an alchemist in the kitchen.”
The Role of Pre-biotics
Supporting the
good bacteria already dwelling in your digestive tract.
Our
hunter-gatherer ancestors ate a diet high in the plant fiber inulin, says
British scientist Glenn Gibson. Today, scientists and nutritionists are
recommending inulin as a “prebiotic,” or substance that provides food for
beneficial probiotic bacteria, helping it grow and thrive in your gut. “Think
of it like fertilizer,” says Gibson, a food microbiologist at the University of
Reading.
Inulin is found
in chicory, onions, garlic, asparagus, artichokes, bananas, and leeks. But
studies have shown about five grams of inulin is needed daily to affect your
gut flora significantly. “You’d need a good sackful of onions” to get that
much, Gibson says.
Consumers
looking for a more efficient method can find inulin in many processed foods.
For example, General Mills Inc.’s Yoplait Yoplus yogurt contains both a
probiotic and a dose of inulin. You can also get inulin in capsule form. “If
probiotics are not doing what you think they should, I recommend adding a
prebiotic,” says Dr. Scott Bautch.
Other
prebiotics, not found in natural foods but often seen in dietary supplements
and packaged foods, include fructooligosaccharide, or FOS for short, and
galactooligosaccharide, or GOS.
